M (DVD)

This is a review of a two-disc ‘ultimate edition’ DVD released by Eureka. M is a German film about a child-murderer, made in 1931. It was directed by Fritz Lang, who was probably the best film-maker in the world until he had to flee to America (after which his movies just aren’t quite up to his earlier standard). He’s best remembered for his epic silent films like Metropolis; M was his first film that used sound. The early sound era has gone down in history as a time of hideously clunky films dominated by the new, unwieldy technology they were forced to use – see Singin in the Rain for a funny comment on all that. But M is amazing – the use of sound ...  Read the complete review

At a time when child-killers and paedophiles receive high profile in the national press, with campaigns such as those by the News of the World which aim to ‘name and shame’ such people provoking fundamental moral debate on a national level, it is comforting, and also slightly surprising, to find a film now 70 years old discussing the various issues of this topic in almost exactly the same ways we are seeing now. Children are going missing, many of their bodies being found in a dismembered state by the police, who are unable to catch the criminal. The people of the city are growing increasingly unnerved by the continuing murders, and are growing ...  Read the complete review

Made in 1931, 'M' was the first 'talking' picture made by the Expressionistic German filmmaker Fritz Lang. The film tells the story of a child murderer who the police are unable to catch. The criminal underground of the city are also unhappy that this evil man is on the loose as he is giving them a bad name (in their opinion) and is causing the authorities to crack down on their dealings, so they set about catching him themselves. The murderer, Hans Beckert, is played by Peter Lorre, who is completely convincing in the role. Lorre is not my favourite actor in the world, but he certainly gives Beckert an air of 'illness' - that ...  Read the complete review

Ok, not a film I would usually have given the time of day to is Fritz Lang's M. I have to confess I watched it as it is a required film on one of my degree course units and I really expected to be falling asleep halfway through. I was amazed when I actually found myself really enjoying it! The plot of the film is basically that a child murderer is on the loose on the streets of Berlin. Taking children at night, the police have no leads as to who the perpetrator is. Panic ensues among the general public and everyone becomes a suspect. The underworld are the main suspects of the police and raids are carried out every night on their vice dens in order ...  Read the complete review

Fritz Lang is perhaps best known for his chilling dystopian film Metropolis, a visually stunning parable about how the heart and hands of any civilisation must work in conjunction with one another to avoid tyrrany. Four years later, in 1931, Lang released M, a thrilling film noir that has become and remained one of the genre's most famed instances, with superb lighting, Lang's typically astounding direction, and a relentlessly creepy performance by Peter Lorre, who plays an accused child murderer. Regardless of the guilt of Lorre's character, this is a powerful indictment of mob mentality, with Lang depicting how out of hand a mob can get, with little regard ...  Read the complete review